The official death toll from Venezuela’s twin earthquakes last week was 1,450 by Sunday, but over 50,000 people are still missing, and hopes of reaching them alive are fading fast. The first 72 hours are critical for earthquake rescue efforts before injuries, suffocation and dehydration take their toll, according to rescue experts. “Critical infrastructure remains […] Continue reading ->
Universal newborn screening needs to be dramatically expanded to improve infant mortality, says the World Health Organization (WHO). Without intervention, many of the estimated eight million infants born worldwide annually with congenital anomalies face severe impairment or death, warns a new technical report. The WHO report reflects a paradoxical landscape. As low- and middle-income countries […] Continue reading ->
The European Parliament on Wednesday defeated a proposal to freeze cigarette excise taxes at a 60% rate of retail value – throwing a final decision on tobacco and nicotine policies into the court of the European Council of Ministers. But the politically divided EU Council is unlikely to raises taxes anywhere near the bar set […] Continue reading ->
World leaders need to finalise the Pandemic Agreement by applying political will at the “highest level”, a spirit of equity and a sense of urgency. This is the call made by World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in an open letter published on Monday […] Continue reading ->
Every year, around 27 million women bleed excessively after giving birth, and almost 43,000 die – yet there are new ways for this to be detected and treated. This is according to a series on maternal health published in The Lancet on Friday by the United Nations Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training […] Continue reading ->
Only around 12% of the contacts of Ebola patients in Ituri province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been reached, posing a “huge risk” for community transmission, Dr Jean Kaseya, Director General of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention told a media briefing on Thursday. Ituri is the epicentre of the current […] Continue reading ->
Ahead of the kick-off of the World Cup football tournament on Thursday, global health advocates are demanding that FIFA, the international football federation, ends its partnership with Coca-Cola by 2030. Coca-Cola has sponsored the FIFA World Cup, the world’s most-watched sporting tournament, since 1978. Its sponsorship agreement, which makes up about 2% of FIFA’s income, is up […] Continue reading ->
Three leading Geneva-based non-profit organisations involved in the research and development (R&D) of “effective, affordable, and life-saving medicines” are pooling resources to address the growing unmet needs of the world’s most vulnerable patients. The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP), and Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) announced […] Continue reading ->
A rare and deadly strain of the Ebola virus is spreading rapidly through a region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that has never previously experienced the disease, pushing suspected cases past 1,000 this week amid severe logistical hurdles and mounting community resistance. The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo version of the virus, […] Continue reading ->
A stiffly-worded resolution approved this week by World Health Organization member states condemned the “wanton” destruction of Gaza’s health facilities and “extreme violence of the illegal Israeli settlers.” The decision called on Israel to ensure humanitarian access to Gaza of medicines, fuel, and other essentials, refrain from further destruction of food production and water supplies, […] Continue reading ->